Thursday, July 21, 2011

DURHAM - North Carolina football coach Butch Davis said today that he will release records of the business calls he made on his personal cell phone in response to a media public records request.

Media outlets have sought to review Davis' personal cell phone records in hopes of shedding light on an investigation that has resulted in NCAA allegations of major violations against the Tar Heel program.

Davis said his personal cell phone records were reviewed "completely and entirely" last fall by UNC's counsel, and he plans to release them "pretty soon." He said he plans to redact personal calls from the records.

"It’s a personal cell phone that I’ve had for over 10 years," Davis said. "And so we’ll redact and I will go through it and things like my wife, my son, my dad, my sister, close personal friends and family members, those types of things. Anything that has anything to do with UNC and business, those will be completely open for public record."

Davis met for eight minutes today with reporters following the annual Triangle Pigskin Preview charity luncheon that features coaches from UNC, Duke, East Carolina, N.C. Central and N.C. State.

In his first public comments since UNC received its notice of allegations from the NCAA in June, Davis said the university has done a "remarkable" job in full cooperation with the NCAA.

The NCAA on June 21 sent UNC chancellor Holden Thorp a notice alleging nine major violations. The investigation of impermissible benefits and academic misconduct began in July of 2010 and resulted in 14 players missing games in the 2010 season, with seven missing the entire season.

UNC must provide a written response by Sept. 19 and is scheduled to meet with the Committee on Infractions on Oct. 28.

"Now obviously we have the opportunity for 90 days to review those allegations and decide which ones they think they might want to contest and which ones they don’t think there is any contest to it," Davis said, "and in October, we’ll go in front of the infractions committee and some time thereafter we’ll find out what comes out of the entire investigation."

Davis said he plans to join school officials when they meet with the Committee on Infractions. He declined to respond to any of the allegations, saying the NCAA has asked UNC officials to refrain from comment, and that athletics director Dick Baddour is the spokesman for the school on the case.

"There’s a limited amount that any of us know," Davis said. "I think, certainly, as has been talked about many, many times is that Dick Baddour as the athletic director, he’s been the point guy. And he along with our compliance department and Chancellor Thorp, they're the ones that are in the know on absolutely everything. There’s a lot of things that I don’t need to know, don’t know. And they’ve handled everything."

Throughout the NCAA investigation, Davis said, he has expected to remain UNC's coach. He was not personally cited in the notice of allegations, which spared UNC the damaging "lack of institutional control" charge but did accuse the school of failure to monitor some violations in the program.

"I totally expected to be the football coach," Davis said. "I’ve been very, very fortunate. I’ve had great support from the administration and the board of trustees, the athletic director, chancellor Thorp. And I’m excited about the future of our program. I’m looking forward to the 2011 football season. We’ve got some good, young, talented kids."

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comments:

its funny to me that the only ones who claim unc has cooperated fully during this investigation are people tied to unc. i havent heard the ncaa express their appreciation for how well theyve responded once.

Fan or not nobody can say these guys have not cooperated, they suspended 15-20 guys and have done everything asked......

Now that is hilarious.......coaches refusing to talk to NCAA, players refusing to talk to NCAA, tutors refusing to talk, phone records still not released, Chancellor stating that player did not plagiarize a paper, on and on and on.......that sure sounds like cooperation.

So Butch will finally release his phone records, but only AFTER he has time to go through them and redact whatever he chooses. Wow, the anticipation is intense.If these had been released months ago, MAYBE they could be considered credible. Now? Not so much. Coach "I Know Nothing" is exactly what the University deserves.

Bunch of ignoramuses. Butch is releasing records from personal cell phone to the MEDIA. The NCAA had access to everything during the investigation.

UNC isn't responsible for nor can they compel fired employees or players to cooperate with the NCAA. UNC technically deprived Robert Quinn of his rights by advising him to turn over his personal cell phone to the investigator, which no lawyer in his right mind would have done.

And some of you apparently don't understand that a single unattributed paragraph in a 10 page homework paper doesn't constitute plagiarism. You might have a case if it was a published work.

I wish it was the basketball team; because I find it irregular that so many athletes go there to "be like Mike". It's not right to give Carolina the credit for Jordan's accomplishments at the Bulls. David Thompson was much better in college.

First off no one is above reproach not even Dean himself. Secondly the entire paper was a combination of excerpts from published works without citing references. Plus he only had 2 paragraphs in the whole paper that were his. As for cooperation, they sat 15 players because they knew if they played that would make them games an automatic loss. That is not cooperating. Why should anyone trust the information Butch releases?

If they say that there has been total cooperation more than 3 times, then it is true, right?? The UNC PR Machine and zealots say this without hesitation, just ignore all of the sharpie markouts of those #'s that we don't need to know about, and trust in Butch!

“Bunch of ignoramuses. Butch is releasing records from personal cell phone to the MEDIA. The NCAA had access to everything during the investigation."* UNC gave his University supplied cell phone, that he doesn’t bother to use, in lieu of the private 216 phone he uses for both business and personal.

“And some of you apparently don't understand that a SINGLE UNATTRIBUTED PARAGRAPH in a 10 page homework paper doesn't constitute plagiarism.”*You need to review that, only one paper ever written on Swahilli from 1911, and he cuts/pastes majority from it making a mockery of the self-imposed Honor Court and Code.Let the Hammer of Thor, drop down in Orange County, NC!

State fans...you are so jealous of UNC...It comes thru loud and clear. You can't be like us, so you want us to be like you...Won't happen! Why don't you spend your time trying to upgrade your athletic program instead of wasting time tring to celebrate a failure?

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About this blog

David Scott has been with the Observer for 28 years and has written about ACC, SEC and other college sports in the Charlotte region. He covers Wake Forest, South Carolina and college soccer for the Observer and (Raleigh) News & Observer.

J.P. Giglio covers the ACC for the News & Observer, where he has worked since 1997, and the Observer.

Andrew Carter covers the North Carolina Tar Heels for the Observer and News & Observer.

Laura Keeley covers the Duke Blue Devils for the Observer and News & Observer. Follow her on Twitter.

Chip Alexander covers the Carolina Hurricanes and college football for the News & Observer, where he has worked since 1979, and the Observer.

Luke DeCock has worked for The News & Observer since 2000. He covered the Carolina Hurricanes and the NHL before becoming a sports columnist for the Observer and News & Observer in August 2008.